Hundreds of patients who had agreed to pay to be followed in the Algomed private clinics, founded by Dr.r Adam Hoffman, were left with nothing after the abrupt closure last July.
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“What shocks me the most is that I feel robbed. I feel like they stole from me. They are trying to take samples while being closed,” complained Lyne Ouellet, a patient met in the weeks following the closure of Algomed.
Lyne Ouellet, ex-patient of Algomed
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After the closure of his Preventia clinic in 2021, the Dr Hofmann closed its Algomed clinics last July.
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The dozen clinics relied on offering private medical monitoring in the form of subscriptions which could cost up to $37 per month or $300 per year. Not to mention that you then had to pay up to $80 per consultation at the clinic.
“Miracle solution”
Algomed relied, among other things, on specialized nurse practitioners who monitored patients.
“It was the miracle solution, without paying a crazy price, to have a private doctor,” says Caroline Roy who suffered from heart and lung health problems.
Caroline Roy had consulted the Algomed clinic for heart and lung problems.
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The woman gave her credit card number from which a monthly amount was taken.
After the clinics closed, samples continued for several patients.
Some have had to change credit cards so that the charges stop.
Layoffs
The setbacks had started a few months earlier, in January 2023, with a first wave of 25 employees who were dismissed without notice.
“I find it deplorable for patients who find themselves without follow-up, without a family doctor. There are tests that have been requested for these patients,” says a former Algomed nurse who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The former director of operations of Algomed filed a complaint against the Dr Adam Hofmann at the College of Physicians.
Dr. Adam Hofmann
Photo taken from the site adamhofmann.com
“He left patients to their own devices,” laments the man who does not want to be named at the request of his new employer.
He blames the nurses
The Dr Hofmann declined our interview request.
By email, Algomed points out the responsibility of nurses for monitoring patients.
“Algomed was a clinic led and managed by nurses before it closed. Under Quebec law, nurses who provided care to patients are responsible for appropriate follow-up or referral, if necessary,” we read.
One of the Algomed clinics was located in this building in St-Jérôme.
Photo Agence QMI, Martin Alarie
The email states that nurses retain access to clinical information and patient records.
Three nurses who were employed by Algomed claim to have never directed and managed the clinics and to have lost all access to files when they were fired. Asked to react, the Order of Nurses confirms that in this type of situation, nurses cannot be held responsible for monitoring patients.
For Esthel Legault, who turned to Algomed after her family doctor retired, all of this leaves a bitter taste.
“My next avenue is the veterinarian,” she concludes.
Esthel Legault emerged bitter from her experience at the Algomed private clinic
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► The Consumer Protection Office received around ten complaints concerning Algomed clinics, particularly for money withdrawals made after closing.
Algomed in brief:
• Around ten clinics open in the Laurentians, the greater Montreal region, Lévis and Nova Scotia
• Monitored by nurse practitioners with monthly or annual subscriptions
• The largest shareholder is Preventia Technologies, a company owned by Adam Hofmann and a man based in Egypt
-Software using artificial intelligence was developed in Egypt to assist clinical staff
• Adam Hofmann divides his time between Saint-Jérôme and New Jersey where he owns a property
• Algomed clinical solutions head office is based in British Columbia
Algomed had premises set up in this commercial building in the St-Romuald sector on the south shore of Quebec.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
The RAMQ demanded $500,000 from him
The Dr Adam Hofmann was asked to pay over half a million dollars to the Régie d’assurance santé du Québec (RAMQ) over a period of just over three years.
In addition to his private clinics, the Dr Hofmann is attached to the Saint-Jérôme hospital in the team of internal medicine specialists.
It all started in May 2018 when the RAMQ sent him a decision for services provided not in accordance with the billing manual for specialist doctors. In particular, he would have claimed without being entitled to sums for hospital consultations and for the teaching of insulin therapy for the period from 2013 to 2017.
The Régie also requested reimbursement of a premium paid for emergency examinations. She also criticized him for not having left a trace in the patient’s file proving that certain medical procedures had indeed been performed.
CONTESTATION
A first arbitration award ruled in favor of the RAMQ, a decision deemed unreasonable by Hofmann.
In particular, he considered that the presence of notes in the patient’s file was not necessary.
“Making such an amalgamation between the ethical obligations of a professional and the standards relating to billing is not only unreasonable, but also a dangerous exercise,” we can read in a motion to challenge the arbitral award.
The case also focused on the notion of examination in internal medicine on which the parties did not agree.
Questioned by email on this subject, the Dr Hofmann did not respond. The RAMQ did not want to specify whether the doctor had finally reimbursed the amount claimed.
“The dispute you are talking about no longer exists, since the plaintiff has withdrawn his entire legal action against us. The Régie accepted this withdrawal,” indicated Régie spokesperson Caroline Dupont.
– With the collaboration of Maude Boutet and Kathryne Lamontagne